The Difference Between You and Me
by Blackbird
Summary: In a moment of rest, Kim finds herself talking with Jen Credible about their similarities and differences.  Set in the Maternal Instinct universe


_**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kim Possible. She is owned by Disney and Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley. Any original characters shown or mentioned belong to me and can not be used without permission. Got it?_

**Primary Author's Notes: **This little story right here takes place almost immediately after Chapter 11 of "Maternal Instinct". For those of you who read the story, it happens after the off screening happening of Shin being put back in the nursery and Shego falling asleep. For those of you who haven't read "Maternal Instinct" go read it so that last sentence will make sense to you. Be warned though it is a Kigo fic.

**The Difference Between You and Me**

Kim stumbled her way out of Shego's hospital room and to one of the couches in the small common area on that floor. The wood frame creaked slightly in protest as she collapsed onto it and laid her head back, careful not to bash it into the wall. The last thing she needed was one more injury. The pain from the ones she already had were slowly starting to catch up to her and combined with the fading adrenaline rush made her feel even worse and all she really wanted to do was pass out right there. Actually, she _wanted_ to pass out in the chair next to Shego's bed but her mother insisted that she go home, get cleaned up, and have a good night's sleep in a proper bed. Unfortunately, she had been too tired and injured to put up a proper argument and simply followed her mother's wishes. At least that's what she intended. Right now it looked like she was going to fall asleep in the hospital after all.

It just might have happened too if the last part of her waking mind hadn't acknowledged someone walking up to her. She forced her eyes open and head up and found Jen standing before her, holding two black cans in her left hand while holding her right behind her back.

"Here," the brunette said, holding one of the cans out to her. "Looks like you could use this."

Kim took the offered can and stared at it for a moment. The words "Boost Energy Drink" were printed along the sides in a white, stylized writing. She looked up skeptically at Jen who merely shrugged in return. Offering up a shrug of her own, Kim popped the top of the can and took an experimental sip only to cringe a bit at the bittersweet flavor.

"You get use to that," Jen replied. "Here I also got you this."

She moved her right hand from around her back to reveal she was holding a small teddy bear with a pink flag taped to it's left paw proudly proclaiming, "It's A Girl!". A bemused smile crossed Kim's face as she took the gift.

"It's all I could find the gift shop," Jen explained with a shrug as she sat down next to the redhead and opened her own can of the energy drink. "So I'm just going to go ahead and ask the really dumb question of 'how do you feel'?"

"Actually that's not as dumb a question as you'd think," Kim remarked as she set the bear down and took another sip of the drink. "I mean obviously I'm in a bit of pain right now after the beating I took, but I'm kinda use to it by now."

"Yeah you definitely build up a strong pain threshold in our line of work."

Kim nodded. "And of course I'm excited and relieved that Shin was born and is doing okay."

"I'm sensing a 'but' coming on."

"_But_," she emphasized the word with a smirk, "I really wish I could stay here and watch over Shego. I know she wouldn't want that, and would probably be insulted by it, but I just can't help by worry."

Jen nodded sagely as she took another drink from her can.

"So then the rumors are true," she muttered, mostly to herself.

Kim's face grew pale at the remark.

"Rumors?" she repeated with a hint of embarrassment. "Then you mean...Oh God it's gotten out?!"

"Oh come on, you think in this day and age of instant information something like two former enemies suddenly becoming lovers wouldn't find its way out into the public?"

"We're not lovers!" she erupted before taking a calming breath. "We're...well I don't know what we are really. Our relationship just started last month and with Shego being pregnant through that we haven't really had time to...explore anything. So I'm not really sure what's going on yet other than the fact that we both care deeply for each other."

"Makes sense to me," Jen commented, nonchalantly. "As much sense as any of this can make anyway."

Kim nodded absently as she leaned forward and swirled the can around in her hand. After several seconds of tense silence she looked over at Jen again.

"So...what do you think?" she asked uncertainly.

"About what?" the other girl asked.

"About me and...Shego. Being, you know...together."

Jen's eyebrows arched upwards as a flash of realization crossed her face. It was quickly replaced with one of concentration as she slowly leaned back and took a long sip of her drink. A quick glance over in Kim's direction revealed that the red head was looking at her pensively, as if her life depended on her giving the right answer. Jen couldn't help but crack a smile at that as she readjusted herself to sit more casually.

"I think...that I don't care. And you shouldn't either. At least what people might think of you cause I know that's what's going through your head," she remarked.

"Oh come on, it's not _that_ obvious," Kim defended. "Is it?"

"Yep. It's that whole 'Oh God what will everyone think of me' look I saw on most of the girls in high school. Hell, I still see it now on some of the people I help." She paused to give a slight shrug before giving Kim a more serious look. "Look, I think if being with Shego makes you happy then that's the only thing that should matter."

"It should and it does. But still there's just part of me that can't help but wonder what people will think. What if people stop giving me rides? What if people don't want me to save them?"

"Then it's their loss. I mean, honestly, some people put way too much stock into the whole gay thing anyway. I mean if they can't handle _that_ then some of the things I've seen would blow their minds."

"Like what?"

The brunette lowered her head and gave her a "You really wanna know?" look. At Kim's eager nod she gave a soft sigh before beginning.

"Kim, I've seen humans, men and women, _willingly _marry demons of all shapes and sizes. Including real live tentacle demons which puts some very disturbing images in my head," she explained, a glazed look covering her eyes at the last part as if she was actually picturing it. She shook her head violently and shuddered before continuing. "So with all that in mind the human variations on coupling don't really phase me. Well except for anything involving dead bodies, kids and animals that's just all sorts of wrong and creepy."

Kim stared at her blankly.

"Oookay," she muttered as she tried to take that all in. "In any case, I know you're right and I shouldn't worry about it, and usually I don't but there's just some small part of me that does. Probably always will. I'm just glad I'm done with high school so I won't have to hear Bonnie make her snide little comments about it."

"Bonnie?"

"Bonnie Rockwaller," she clarified. "She was on the cheer squad with me and had a serious 'all that' attitude that drove me crazy. The way she talked you'd think _she_ was the girl who could do everything and she definitely believed that herself. It didn't help that she acted snotty to everyone that she thought was lower on her precious 'food chain'."

"Typical cheerleader," Jen muttered. It took a second for her to realize what she had said. "Oh God, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"

The other girl held up a hand to stop her.

"Don't worry about it, I know what you meant. Bonnie definitely fit the typical cheerleader stereotype. So I guess you had a problem with a cheerleader at your high school.

Jen nodded.

"Stacy Burke," she spat out the name like it was poison while her hands tightened around the can. "I hated her so much."

The can gave a soft crinkle as her grip tightened so much she started to dent the can.

"Uh Jen, you OK?" Kim asked, placing a hand on the girl's arm.

Jen seemed to snap out of her daze at the gentle touch and finally realized what she was doing.

"Oh sorry. Just brought up some bad memories there," she apologized.

"Well I can certainly understand that," Kim said, removing her hand. "So how did you deal with Stacy?"

"Well..." she started as she turned her head to the side a bit.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Thank God it's Friday," Jen muttered as she leaned against her locker. "Finally a couple days away from this place and time for some well earned rest."

"You mean provided no weirdo decides to go and cause trouble," a taller Puerto Rican girl next to her joked.

Jen groaned a bit as she leaned her head against her locker then turned to look at the girl. Rosalinda "Rose" Ricarro was supposed her best friend from since she could remember, but times like this made her question that idea.

"You just had to go and mention that didn't you?" she growled.

"Hey what are friends for if not to bring you down when you have a moment of happiness?" Rose joked as she swung her backpack over her shoulder.

"I'll remember that the next time you start feeling good," Jen remarked as she took her own backpack from her locker.

"Oooh I'm so scared," the other girl joked in mock fear.

"Uh-oh are you two having a spat?" an obnoxious voice asked from behind them.

Jen visibly cringed at the sound of the voice as if it were nails scraping across a chalk board. She and Rose turned to find the last person they wanted to see standing before them; Stacy Burke. Head cheerleader, leader of all the preppy girls and generally queen of her own little world. She fit the image perfectly from her bleach blonde hair and blue eyes to her all-too-white teeth and even to wearing her red and black cheerleader outfit every chance she got all topped with her "I'm better than you" attitude. The attitude that was ringing out clearly as she stared at the two girls with a snarky grin on her face.

"Let me guess, can't decide what color to dye your Latin lover's hair next?" she snipped.

"Oh God, are you _still_ on that?!" Jen cried out in disbelief. "First off, we're not gay. Secondly, everyone in the school knows your full of crap about that."

"Thirdly, this is all natural," Rose spoke up, tugging at her curly, copper colored hair. "If anyone's hair color comes out of a bottle around here it's yours."

"Whatever," Stacy snorted as she turned away. "Like anyone cares what you two losers think anyway."

With that she stomped off towards her locker further down the hallway, the typical entourage of cheerleaders and popular kids following close behind her. Jen narrowed her eyes and let out a frustrated growl as she watched her walk away.

"God I hate her," she muttered.

"So then why don't you do something about it?" Rose asked.

"What do you mean?" Jen asked back, turning to her friend again.

"Well you know all that martial arts, kung fu stuff, right? Why not just go over there and y'know?" she made a few chopping motions to emphasize her point.

"I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Well for one, I'd most likely get detention for that and my dad's already mad enough with me about this whole 'saving people' business that I don't need to add more fuel to that fire. Secondly..." Jen paused as she rolled her eyes upwards and bobbed her head from side to side as she tried to think of another reason. "OK so I can't think of a second reason right now, but I'm sure it's a good one."

"So let me get this straight. You're willing to go out there and fight all sorts of freaks and, if what this Dave guy says is true, demons but you'll let yourself be pushed around by one bitchy cheerleader?"

Jen looked like she wanted to say something in return and in face tried to start a counter argument many times but words never quite came out. Finally she gave up and hung her head with a sigh. She brought it up again when she heard Stacy's annoying laugh and saw her berating another kid, this time one from the math club. Again Jen could feel a righteous indignation build up inside of her.

"You know something Rose, you're right," she said. "I do know how to deal with her. Here hold this."

She handed her bewildered friend her backpack before she marched purposely over to Stacy and her group, and tapped the head cheerleader on the shoulder.

"What?!" Stacy asked in annoyance as she turned around.

The answer to her question came in the form of Jen's right fist striking her square in the nose. The blow was powerful enough to send the blonde into a 180 degree turn before falling face first onto the green title floor. Everyone in the immediate area stared in stunned silence. The first one to break the uneasy quiet was the boy she had been mocking who started to laugh uproariously. His laughter was followed by one boy clapping who was quickly joined by the others in the hall. Jen gave a few stage bows to the rapturous applause.

"Thank you. Thank you," she said politely. She then turned back to her friend. "Hey Rose!" she shouted, pointing to her backpack.

The Puerto Rican tossed the object to her, which she caught easily enough and swung over her shoulder with exuberance.

"Well my work here is done. I'll see you all Monday," she addressed the crowd before she turned to leave.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I got three weeks detention and grounded for a month for that stunt. But it was totally worth it," Jen finished with a glint in her eye.

"Uh-huh," Kim nodded as she stared at the one girl on the planet who could be even more aggressive than her. "Unfortunately, I couldn't bring myself to do that to Bonnie."

"Why not?"

"Cause it just didn't seem fair. Besides, Bonnie was just High School Evil, nothing really worth worrying about. I'm sure once she gets out into the real world she'll see things don't work the way they did in highschool."

"Don't be too sure about that," Jen warned. "I've seen plenty of those daddy's girl types that haven't learned thing since high school or college. Sometimes the _only_ way to reach them is a fist to the face."

"Well I doubt I'll ever seen Bonnie again so it doesn't really matter."

"Suit yourself," the other girl replied with a shrug as she sat back and took another swig from her energy drink.

Kim was about to say something else when she caught site of her mother talking to one of the other doctors at the end of the hall. She took another quick swig from her own can and shuddered at the taste before she forced herself to stand up. She wobbled a bit, causing Jen to move over to catch her if need be, but Kim was able to stabilize herself. When she was sure her footing was good she looked back at Jen.

"Sorry to cut this short but I'm sure my mom will be here soon to drag me away," she explained.

"Eh, it's fine. Looks like you could use a few hours worth of sleep anyway," Jen remarked.

"Try days. I just wish there was a way I could make sure Shego was safe while I was gone."

"I could watch her," the brunette said casually.

Kim seemed stunned by the offer.

"Really? You don't mind?"

"Nah, it's fine. Might as well do something useful while I'm here. Hell, I could even get Dave to watch over Shin. She's back in the nursery, right?"

The redhead nodded.

"Alright. I'll give Dave a call and tell him to head over there. You know, provided he can tear himself away from Monique."

"So what _is_ going on between those two?"

"I would ask, but then I'm deathly afraid he would tell me. Dave's one of those guys who likes to give out waaay too much information."

Kim arched an eyebrow at that comment. "OK, I'm definitely going to need to ask Monique what's up."

"Oh Kimmie, there you are," the voice of Mrs. Dr. Possible reached them. "Are you ready to go?"

"I guess so. I still can't see why I couldn't stay the night here," Kim remarked.

"I told you why not, you need a good night's rest in your own bed to let your wounds heal properly. If you want I could get Perry to come explain it to you."

A look of horror crossed the teen hero's face. "No, no! That's OK. I'm fine. Ready to go home."

Ann Possible couldn't help by smirk at her own craftiness. That's when she noticed the other girl sitting on the couch.

"Oh, you're that Jen girl, right?" she asked.

"Jen Credible, yeah," the girl in question replied. "I came to wish Kim all the best on the baby."

"And she's offered to stay and watch over Shego," Kim added.

"That's nice. Are you sure it's not any trouble."

Jen held up her hands. "No trouble at all. I think I can handle watching over someone sleeping in a hospital."

"Well I'll be sure to tell the nurses on this floor that you're here so they won't cause you any trouble."

"Thank you Mrs. Possible. It was nice meeting you again."

"You too. Come on Kimmie, time to head home."

"Right behind you mom," Kim replied as she reached down and picked up the teddy bear Jen had given her. "And thanks again for watching over Shego."

"What are friends for, right?" Jen smiled.

Kim returned the smile before walking off to catch up to her mom. Jen watched as they rounded the corner and disappeared from sight. She leaned back on the couch and took a sip of her drink and just sat there for a minute. When the stillness of the room became too much for her she stood up and made her way to Shego's room. She looked around her to see if any of the nurses would hassle her for walking into the room way past visitor hours and when she didn't see any she carefully opened the door.

_Wow security around this place sucks,_ she thought as she stepped into the room. _Guess Kim was right to be worried._

She made it about midway through the room and stopped when she notice Shego stirring. She stood perfectly still so as not to make any noise and waited to see if the former thief was going to wake up. When it looked like she wouldn't Jen let out a soft sigh as she relaxed.

_So this is the big, bad Shego,_ she thought as she stared at the sleeping woman. _Doesn't seem all that dangerous to me. Course she did just give birth in a robot's supply room so I suppose that would take a lot out of anyone. Still, I can't help by wonder what she was like before all this. I heard all the rumors but still..._ She paused in her thoughts to give a soft chuckle. _It's funny, I'm sure if we would have met nine months ago I would have gotten a chance to see exactly what she could do. See if maybe I could survive a fight with her just like Kim. But instead I'm here watching over her _for_ Kim to make sure she's alright. Funny how life works sometimes. Still, maybe after she adjusts to this new life and gets back into shape I can talk her into a sparing match. It would be fun to see how I stand up to her._

Jen cast one last look at the peaceful form of the sleeping Shego before she smiled and left the room. As she made her way back to the lounge area she tried to think of all the different ways someone could sneak onto this floor and what she needed to be on the look out for.

"I just gotta watch out for something weird," she told herself.

It was then that she heard a high pitched wail and immediately went into a defensive stance. She relaxed when she saw it was only a spiky haired doctor standing surfer style on one of the stretchers being pushed by a bald headed African American man in green surgical scrubs. She watched in confusion as they passed by her, screaming excitedly the whole time.

"Like that," she muttered.

"Oh don't worry," a nearby janitor said. "I'm gonna bring those two down. Sooner or later."

She nodded politely then picked up the pace back to the lounge.

_What have I gotten myself into this time,_ she wondered.

**The End.**

**Author's Notes: **Well I suppose this could classify as the second fic in the "Maternal Instinct" universe, but I see it mostly as an add on to the fic itself. Honestly it all started when I had the flash of how Jen would deal with her own personal Bonnie Rockwaller and I tried to think of how or even when I would work it into a story. Wasn't even sure _if_ I was going to work it into one, but once I came up with the title I just _had_ to write it. And since I didn't get to do everything I wanted to do with Jen in Chapter 11 I decided just to put it here as kind of an additional scene to the fic. Does it really add much to the fic itself, not really but I do hope it was helpful in fleshing out Jen some more and most of all that it was enjoyable. I know I had fun with it.

Oh and if everyone was paying attention the Rose seen in the flashback is the same one that called Jen at the end of Chapter Six of "Maternal Instinct". The doctors and janitor are once again players from "Scrubs" that I just couldn't help by use. What can I say, I just have fun with them.

Well...til next time. See ya!


End file.
